Hexx Mark
by Xtremis
Summary: It had to be done today. Had to. No matter what Archer had said. The last Termination had been almost a month ago. There was no way he'd make the link from her increased testing to that. (Rewrite of Cursed Angel)
1. freedom comes at a price

So, there may be a few of you who recognise a few elements of this story (aka most of the damn thing). This is a rewrite of my _Cursed Angel_ story from a few years ago. Which, first of all wow I did not realise it was that old. Secondly, I've been meaning to get this started in all those years so...

For the most part this darling is going to follow a similar plot path, although with much better sense of pacing and characterisation hopefully.

This is mostly prologue right now, although a few major players are introduced.

As always, any feedback is much appreciated.

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Silent.

What she was meant to be from birth.

A Failure.

Deemed so by her creators.

A Curse.

How she identified her existence.

Hexx.

Her name; and her story is just beginning.

(())

Her hands were shaking. Nothing more than usual but focusing on that kept her mind off the plan. And the reper... _repercussions_ that any failure would entail. She continued to march alongside the other female experiments, curling her hands into fists at her sides so the shaking was less obvious. It had to be done today. _Had to_. No matter what Archer had said.

{

_ "Why bother?" His eyes narrowed and the sneer curling his lips became acidic, "You're going to get caught. Just like last time. You'd be better off just taking the fucking punishment."_

}

But he hadn't known. Still didn't know. The last Termination had been almost a month ago. There was no way he'd make the link from her increased testing to that. The only one who knew was Scales, and only because he'd remembered her experiment number.

And he was going to risk a hell of a lot to give her an escape chance. There was a loose corner of the fence by the edge of the field and she only had one chance to make it. From across the field he caught her eye, lips curling into a lazy grin. She shook her head the tiniest bit at him, slightly exasperated, enough to look merely like she was moving her hair out of her eyes.

Blue eyes slid from Scales to the brown haired boy beside him and something twisted in her gut. She looked away then, a foul taste in her mouth. Havoc was never going to understand. But he would be looked out for. As much as anyone could manage. She sucked in a shallow breath, focusing on the noise of the other experiments walking.

It was always a challenge to hear her own movements underneath the noise. She was hoping this would help her. The turn was approaching and she stumbled, enough to attract glances but not punishment. Across the field a yell suddenly rang out, a slew of curse words following. Around her the other experiments looked over in confusion, and she spared a short glance.

Scales was laying into one of the other experiments, a fox hybrid they all knew was a spy, and around him fights began breaking out. The wolf guards were already swarming and she took off, focused only on the edge of the fence. Adrenaline pumped in her veins, and she was mere feet from the exit when the yell went up.

"Escapee!" Her breath almost caught in her throat and she slammed into the fence, the metal bending back underneath her weight. Ignoring the way the edges caught on her skin, her clothes, tugged some hair loose, Hexx sprinted for the tree line. Behind her she could hear the growls of the wolf guards closing in, the yells of the experiments, but she couldn't spare time to think about that.

She broke into the tree line and the world darkened. Yells and growls followed her. Her breath came in sharp pants, and she raised a hand to her chest. Damn it. If she didn't find a clearing soon there would be no way she could outrun them. And then she would die early.

A brighter area caught her eye up ahead and Hexx sucked in a sharp breath. This had to be a clearing. She poured on more speed, sweat already beading on her forehead. Oh the scientists really hadn't thought out her design.

And then a burning pain exploded in her side. Hexx let out a yell, turning as she stumbled and lashing out with a kick. She caught the hybrid in the chest and the loud crunch of bone had him falling to the floor. At least she assumed it was a he. And that there were bones to break.

She could see the other hybrids nearing and let out a curse, sprinting towards the clearing, a hand pressed to her side. Her wings began to unfurl from her back, the weight increasing steadily. She'd only have one chance. She had to take off as she burst into the clearing or she'd be caught. Caught and killed and hated all the more.

And then she was through the tree line, breaking into the clearing, wings snapping out and jumping and-

Up.

She was flying. She was flying and everything hurt and there were yells beneath her but she couldn't pause couldn't stop. The pain in her side was beginning to spread, an ache in her very bones taking over. She tried to keep her mind off everyhting that had happened, tried to keep focused on putting as much distance between her and the institute she had just escaped from.

It was barely an hour later she begun to flag. Her head was feeling woozy, from bloodloss and the simple fact she could barely remember the last time she'd flown this long. Without getting shocked of course. She had been flying low, barely above the tree line and now she dropped. A branch hit her across the chest and she lost what little balance she had, crashing into a trunk as she fell. Pain sparked all across her side and she let out a curse, her voice barely audible in the silence of the forest.

She sucked in a breath, wrapping an arm around her waist and trying her best not to let the pain take over. There was misty film over her eyes and she breathed out a laugh, humourless and flashing pain across her once more. What was she thinking? Escaping had been pointless. What was she going to do now?

Her eyes slid shut, an overwhelming tiredness taking over her bones. A few minutes rest wouldn't hurt anyone…

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	2. what if it's not punishment

I like to think that one day I'll have a better update system than 'write until you can't think of anything else and update right then'. But that day is not today.

But yay for chapter two! Which while similar to the original takes a different turn. Here is where we start to see my changes happening.

I'm a full-time Uni student at the moment so updates - while not as horrendous as they were for the original - will not be this frequent all the time, but procrastination from my Uni work tends to result in fanfic so who knows.

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When Hexx came to, she was definitely not leaning on a tree. Her muscles locked, her brain working overtime to find an explanation. The room was warm and there was a weight draped across her stomach and tightness around her wound and softness beneath her back. She was also alone.

Electric blue eyes opened, and she sat up, ignoring the ache in her bones and the pressure on her wound and heart rate picking up. The walls were pale and the floor carpeted and this wasn't like any of the rooms she had ever been in.

Fear spiked in her chest and she threw the covers off, scrambling out of the bed despite the aggravation to her wounds. Oh she had suffered far worse. She spun around, taking in the little touches, confusion and fear battling within her. What was going on? Where the hell was she?

Footsteps.

Outside the door and approaching fast.

Hexx backed towards the window, eyes narrowing as she fisted her hands. Her wings shifted, and it was then she realised she was in new clothes. She pulled at the top, new confusion making her forget the approaching footsteps. What was going on?

And then the door was opening and her head snapped up, lips pulled back in the beginnings of a snarl. But the person-_girl_. There was a girl in the doorway that looked barely older than Can-_no_. She looked young, near Hexx's own imagined 15 years but not quite. Black hair fell into her eyes as she smiled and all the smile did was make Hexx more wary, more scared.

Smiles from unknown people had never been a good thing.

Hexx could feel the tension building in her muscles, her hands curling into fists at her sides. Bone shifted under her knuckles and she shifted on her feet, the carpet underneath them doing little to ease her fear. The last time she had stood on carpet… was followed by a time best not remembered.

More footsteps were approaching and Hexx pressed closer to the window, instincts screaming at her. The girl in the doorway seemed to falter, smile dropping and mouth opening to say something when,

"Ella! What are you doing?" The girl pulled away from the door, leaving Hexx alone as she responded to the question from the feminine voice. Hexx's wings shifted in agitation against her back again, this time accompanied by an overwhelming flare of pain that had her doubling over. Her stomach flared up at this and Hexx dropped to her knees, pain clouding her senses.

{

_An electric shock ran through her body, her muscles locking as the current ran its course. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, body still responding to the years of forced training despite the pain she was in. Her wings shook in the straps they securing them, muscles stretching and tendons pulling uncomfortably. _

}

{

_This was the third test in as many hours and Hexx didn't know what they wanted from her. She had been so quiet! She hadn't whimpered when the claws had torn open her stomach, hadn't so much as changed her breathing pattern when they threw in the last failure. She was being so _good_ so why weren't they letting her go?_

}

"You need to breathe; otherwise you'll fall into shock." There was a hand on her shoulder. There was a hand on her shoulder rubbing gentle circles and the wall wasn't at her back. The wall wasn't at her back and she didn't know where she was, didn't know how many others there were around her. And the wall _wasn't at her back_.

Hexx flung herself backwards, relief surging through her veins as she hit the wall. She leant against it in a crouch, fingers bunched in the front of the top she wore. Her breath came in stuttered gasps, the noise of them barely audible, but still there and she was going to get in trouble, she was making too much noise, she didn't want to get hurt again, she'd do better, promise, please don't, no-

And then there were hands on her arms, jarring her from her memories. Hexx's body locked up as she came back to herself. A wave of anger pulsed through her as she realised how weak she had been, how vulnerable. She hadn't been so stupid in years.

"-in Arizona, dear. Not Itex. You are safe here." It was the same voice who had called out to… Ella a few moments ago. It was soft, and soothing, and how did she know it was safe? Hexx focused on her situation fully once more, pressing closer to the wall when she realised how close the other person was to her.

Her features were similar to the young girl from earlier, though her hair was cut shorter and pinned away from her face. She had stopped speaking now and had taken her hands from Hexx's skin. But she continued to kneel before the dark-haired girl. A glance from under messy hair showed that Ella stood hovering in the doorway, expression a twist of concern.

"My name is Valencia Martinez, and the girl in the doorway is my daughter Ella." Hexx looked at the woman, eyes narrowing. What sort of person shared information about themselves so easily? "You're in the spare bedroom of my home in Arizona. My daughter found you passed out in the forest two days ago." Two days? She had been asleep in a strange place for two whole days?

Dr Martinez was apprehensive of the latest winged teen to occupy her house. While she may have had experience with avian hybrids from the time that the Flock had spent here, there was a distinct difference between them and the girl before her now. The Flock bore scars and were hesitant to trust, but this girl seemed much worse. No-one from the Flock had ever had a panic attack after seeing Ella.

"Ella, why don't you get a start on your homework?" Dr Martinez turned to view her daughter over her shoulder as she spoke. Ella glanced between the two before nodding, albeit reluctantly, and leaving the room.

When Dr Martinez turned back to the young avian hybrid, the tense set of her muscles seemed to have relaxed slightly. She offered a soft smile, still crouching. It wouldn't do to stand and be in a position of undefined superiority over her.

"Now, I can give you a list of your injuries and what I did to help them heal, but would you give me your name first?" Hexx watched as Ms Martinez sent her daughter away, something twisting in her stomach at the mention of 'homework'. That was… That was something normal kids did wasn't it? Did that mean she had really escaped? When the older woman turned back she offered a smile and Hexx found herself relaxing slightly. She wasn't safe by a long shot, but she was close. It took a moment for her to get her throat working again but then,

"My name is Hexx."

(())

Scales flexed his hands beside him, the stretch and pull of where flesh met scales a reassuring constant in the darkness. The room he was in was little more than a few feet across, small enough for him to reach the walls even chained where he was in the centre. This was to be his punishment. It didn't concern him too much. Whether it was punishment for starting a fight in the middle of exercise or for being complicit in the escape of another experiment was what concerned him.

Judging by the tame nature of the punishment so far, it was most likely a punishment for the former. But there was time for it to get worse; for it to become a punishment for the latter. After all there was no way none of the higher-ups didn't know about the bonds formed among experiments. And Hexx had always been the one Scales was closest to.

Footsteps approaching the cell pulled him from his thoughts. He let his muscles relax, expression smoothing into one of apathy. There was the slid of a key card and then the door was opening, flooding the room with light. Scales hissed, eyes narrowing against the glare but not shutting fully. Three people stood in the doorway, and after a moment the two on the sides stepped forward.

There was a certain set to their shoulders and Scales' tongue flicked out, testing the air. The man in a white coat in the doorway watched in avid fascination. He was fully human though so Scales didn't care at this junction of his life. The other two however, had a canine overlay to their smell. Wolf guards.

They were removing the chains from his hands, grip far too tight for comfort and pressing against his scales in the wrong direction but the dark-skinned youth knew better than to voice a complaint. His hands were re-chained behind his back, and his feet were freed next, to be secured with a piece of chain between them. The guards moved to flank him, grip tight on his shoulders.

Scales' heart began to beat faster in his chest. This wasn't panning out like any other punishment had before. These guards were too silent, too clinical with their movements. Even if a punishment was over there was always a stray injury or two from a guard being too rough with the removing the chains. There were normally taunts, about how much worse it would be next time. Something was wrong.

The scientist looked up from where he had taken notes and offered a smile that was all teeth.

"Take him to the Director."

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End file.
